


If He Be Worthy

by Northern_Lady



Category: Arthurian Mythology, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Chains, Cursed, Desire, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Imprisonment, Lust, Lust at First Sight, Swords & Sorcery, The Lady of the Lake - Freeform, Worthy, explicit content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-31 09:30:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20112916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northern_Lady/pseuds/Northern_Lady
Summary: Post Endgame, the Loki who escaped the New York timeline is plotting new ways to rule earth and prove himself more worthy than Thor. He will need Excalibur and the lady of the lake to do it. One Shot. AU. Based on both the mythic and Marvel version of the Lady.I really enjoyed writing this one but my favorites as an author are often not my readers favorites. I really hope some of you enjoy it :)





	If He Be Worthy

Loki didn’t know what to expect to find in the cave ahead. He had been planning this expedition for months. Since escaping the Avengers in New York he had only wanted a new means to power in Midgard and he intended to do it without Thanos this time. It had taken him a long while to come up with a new plan. Something Stark had said to him had been the inspiration for this plan. “There is no throne…” Stark had been right of course. Midgard had no throne for one one ruler and no test of worthiness for their rulers either but their legends held a story that just might be what he needed. He needed to find Excalibur. He knew he could probably create an illusion or get the dwarves to build what he needed but in this case, finding the real thing might serve him better. The humans would want proof and it would be easier to provide if the sword were genuine. Their King Arthur was supposed to return someday. He could change his appearance to look like whatever their ideal Arthur might look like. After that he could win elections everywhere, rule everywhere. 

The cave ahead was said to be the resting place of Niamh, the Lady Of Lake. His research told him that she had been cursed by her own people (a race of beings with powers not unlike the Asgardians) and that Excalibur was to remain hidden until the curse was broken. That information, read in an antique book in London, was the only information Loki had about what might lie ahead in the cave. He assumed there would be a grave and some sort of puzzle to solve or spell to break. Some sort of test to prove his worthiness. He would do whatever he must to pass the test. He would prove himself more worthy than Thor. 

The entrance to the cave was small and Loki had to duck down to get inside. It was dark in the interior, the only light came from the entrance. He switched on a flashlight he had purchased at a Midgardian store. He was no longer on Midgard but had passed through the portal from Britain to Avalon miles ago. There was a tunnel ahead and he could hear water running or flowing in the distance. Loki made his way through the narrow tunnel. As he came to the end of it he kept his free hand on his dagger, wary of what might lie in front of him. He stepped out into an open cavern and there met a sight he had not expected. 

There was indeed flowing water at the far end of the cavern. The water flowed from the ceiling of the cavern like a waterfall down into a pool. The waterfall was small, like a shower of water, and behind it, chained to the wall of the cavern was a woman. She was barely clothed. Her clothes looked as if they had rotted away from being there for so long. Her arms were chained above her head and her feet did not touch the ground. She hung suspended there, her long wet hair obscuring her face and covering at least some of her nakedness. 

“Are you Niamh?” he asked, approaching her cautiously. He had expected that Niamh was dead but it just occurred to him that she came from a race as powerful as Asgardians. She could very well still be alive. 

She did not reply but he heard her gasp. 

“It’s alright. I mean you no harm. I am Loki of Asgard and Jotunheim. Just tell me your name. Perhaps I can help you down from there.” 

“Are you real?” she finally spoke. “Or are you just another vision?” 

“I am real,” he told her stopping at the edge of the pool. The only way to reach her was to cross it. 

“That’s exactly what a vision would say.” she argued, worriedly. 

“Then I suppose I will cross this water and come close enough that you can see for yourself that I am indeed real,” he said, knowing that this was probably part of the test. 

“Be careful,” she warned him. “There are creatures in the water.” 

“What sort of creatures?” he asked as he removed his jacket, tunic and boots. They would only weigh him down crossing the pool. 

“I don’t know. I see them moving sometimes. They killed others who tried to rescue me. Pulled them under and they never resurfaced.” 

“So you are the lady of the lake?” he said, placing the flashlight on the ground at an angle that would provide him light while he crossed the pool. 

“Yes,” she said in a near whisper. “And you are here for Excalibur, not for me.” 

“Why can’t I bere here for both?” he said, looking over the water, trying to determine the best way to cross it. Should he make a running dive and go for as much distance as quickly as possible? Or should he go slowly and try not to disturb whatever was in there? “The others who tried to cross the water, did they go slowly?” he asked her, not truly expecting an answer. 

“No, the first was a terrible swimmer and did a great deal of splashing. The next ran and dove. The third carried in logs and tried to build a raft. His raft began to sink when he reached the middle and he too made a great deal of noise.” 

“Slow it is then,” Loki said, taking a dagger in each hand. He made his way carefully down into the icy water. 

The coldness of the water did not bother him. He was a Jotun after all. He supposed that this temperature might have been what foiled the plans of her previous rescuers. They had gotten cold and then desperate. The water was not deep at first but soon his feet no longer touched bottom. Loki had never swam so slowly or so carefully in all his life. He felt movement below him and went still. A full three minutes went by before the movement ended. Loki continued to the other shore and made his way out of the water, unharmed. 

Loki crossed under the flowing water and stood before Niamh, the water now drizzling over both of them. Some part of him had assumed that the chains were an illusion. Now that he had crossed the pool she would be standing there unchained and fully clothed and either give him the sword or the next part of the test. His assumptions proved wrong. She was still chained and she was watching him her mouth half open in awe. Up close she was rather lovely and he could see that getting the shackles off of her was going to be awkward at best. 

“I’ll see what I can do about those chains,” he said. 

The only way to reach her shackles above her head was to simply stand close to her and reach above their heads. He was shirtless though and she was barely clothed. He felt her intake of breath when he pressed against her. 

“Sorry,” he said, trying the lock with the blade of his dagger. 

“You are real…” she breathed the words. 

“Indeed,” he said, finding that he had to press against her even closer to truly reach the lock. “Sorry,” he said a second time. 

“Don’t be sorry,” she told him. “It’s been thirty years since I’ve even seen a man.” 

Loki pulled away just enough to meet her eyes and understood for the first time that she was enjoying his efforts to rescue her. In that case, he would stop trying to hard to avoid touching her. 

“It would be easier if there were less tension on the chains,” he suggested, “I’ll need my hands free, so if you could hold yourself up…” 

Niamh was quick to understand and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Loki pressed her against the wall to fully relieve the tension in the chains and he quickly freed her right arm from the shackle. Her arm dropped limply around his back. Moments later he freed her left arm. She slumped forward against him and began to cry. These were not just tears to aid in the drama of a pre-orchestrated test of worthiness. These were genuine sobs of relief. It was clear now that Niamh’s plight in this cave was real. Someone had imprisoned the lady of the lake and he had just set her free. Loki didn’t move from where he stood pressed against her, her legs around him. He stayed put until her sobs ended. 

“We have to go back across the pool. Can you walk?” 

She put her feet to the ground but could hardly support her own weight. Loki lowered her to the ground and sat next to her. 

“How long have you been trapped here?” he asked. He might as well know. It seemed that Excalibur might be off the table anyway. He did not regret helping the lady of the lake for her own sake. She was a beautiful woman and if the stories were true, she was a powerful woman too in the use of magic. 

“I’m not sure. Perhaps a hundred years. Maybe more.” 

“How did you survive all this time? I see no food…” 

“I don’t need food. I can absorb nutrition from water. Food is better but I can survive without it.” 

“What happened? How did you come to be here?” 

“My father arranged a betrothal to a man called Eain of Dundaery. I rejected his marriage plans and ran away. Eain found me and tried to convince me to change my mind. I would not be convinced. He only wanted Excalibur. It’s all anyone ever wants. The powers of the sword are mine to grant to whoever I wish. After Eain went away a few hundred years passed and I chose to grant the sword to a Midgardian for a second time. Eain was furious and he came back to find me and Excalibur. He treated me with brutality, forced me to tell him where the sword was. I told told him lest he kill me. He hid the sword with a spell and he imprisoned me here as revenge and so that I can never grant the blade to anyone. If he can’t have it, no one can.” 

“I see,” Loki said, moved by her story. 

“Are you sorry you came for me?” she asked. “I imagine it was a waste of your time.” 

“No. That’s not how I would describe it.” he said. Besides, she might not even be telling him the whole truth. She might know where the sword was but didn’t want to allow anyone to use her to get to it. He couldn’t say that he blamed her for that. “I had great plans of defeating my brother with that sword and I never expected to find you alive. Now you’ll get your freedom and I’ll find another way to outdo my brother. That is, if we survive crossing the pool.” 

“We will. I have powers over water and that which lives in it. I only have to touch the water and…” 

“Good. We should go then.” 

On the other side of the pool Loki gave Niamh his tunic to wear. He led the way out of the caves, through the portal, and onto British farmland. She couldn’t really walk for long and he had to carry for much of the way. 

“This is Midgard,” he told her as sheep wandered by. “You’ll need clothes and shelter for the night. I have rented a cottage not far from here. You can come with me if you like and take some time to recover?” he offered, trying not to seem desperate. He still held out hope of finding Excalibur and she was the key to that. 

Niamh looked around warily and then down at herself, underdressed in only a tunic. “Alright, I will come to your cottage.” 

Once inside the cottage, Loki placed Niamh on a sofa and closed the door behind them. He went to a wardrobe and pulled out a pair of pants, using magic he changed them into a dress of pale blue and passed it to her. She slipped on the dress over the tunic, the effort exhausting her. 

“I fear it might take me a long while to recover,” she said, worn out on the sofa. 

“Some real food might help.” Loki suggested. 

They talked for a long while over their meal of soup and bread about Asgard and Thor and about Merlin and Arthur. The hour grew late and Niamh yawned from tiredness. 

“I will sleep on the sofa and carry you to the bed of you like,” Loki offered. 

“If you wish…” she conceded. 

Loki picked her up and carried her to the bed. When he set her down she held onto his shirt. “I don’t want to sleep alone…” she whispered. “Don’t go…” 

“Alright,” he agreed but still she did not let go of him. 

“Stay here?” she feebly pulled him close enough to kiss her.

And so he did. He gave her exactly what she wanted. He gave her kisses and he felt her body with his hands and he sheathed himself inside her, thrusting to meet her desperate rhythm. She was most definitely desperate. She had said herself that it had been thirty years since she had even seen a man. The last men she had seen had drowned before her eyes. She had been chained to the wall of a cave for a hundred years, alone and unable to do anything to see to her own needs. She had every right to be desperate. He had seen the desire in her eyes back in the cave when he’d been trying to unchain her. If he rejected her now, she would never grant him Excalibur and truthfully, he didn’t want to reject her. In her bed was the only place he wanted to be. 

He was almost certain that her euphoria at climax was greater than his own. He lay down beside her and found that she looked drugged. She rolled closer to him and he pulled her into an embrace. He wondered for a moment if the legends about her being an enchantress held any truth. Then he fell asleep. 

***

For two weeks Loki forgot his plans to rule earth. He forgot to care about finding Excalibur or looking for ways to have revenge on Thor. He really only cared about one thing, being with Niamh. Every night he took her to bed and every morning they would awaken and make love again. Some days they would stay in bed half the day and other days they would go out for a walk and end up rutting on the forest floor like wild animals. He didn’t question it until one late afternoon amongst and stand of pine trees he spilled himself inside her and came to his senses just enough to question it. 

“What have you done to me?” he asked her, rolling off of her to catch his breath. 

“What do you mean?” Niamh was confused and a little hurt. 

He reached over and touched her cheek. “I have forgotten all my plans in favor of being with you. Are you truly an enchantress or is this something else?” 

She looked uncomfortable with the question and a single tear slipped from her eyes. “I do have powers of enchantment. I don’t need to use them.” 

“How am I to know the difference?” 

“Why would I want to enchant you? What good would it do me? I think I am attractive enough on my own that I don’t need…” she was starting to sound angry and then trailed off. 

“Clearly you don’t. I’ve just never been so distracted before.” 

“I don’t have to be just a distraction. I could help you. I could help you to rule.” she offered. 

“Why would you do that?” he asked, suddenly wary. Maybe he didn’t want to share his power and maybe he was suspicious of this offer after she had won him over so easily. 

Niamh gave him and angry look, sat up from where she lay on the ground, and straightened her clothes. “It doesn’t feel very pleasant does it, only being used for what you can offer someone?” 

Loki felt sick. “No it doesn’t.” he shook his head. “If that’s what you have been doing, I should be angry, but I’m not.” 

She took a breath and calmed herself. “It wasn’t. I do care for you. I truly do. I was only trying to make a point just now. Besides, the truth is far too complicated. We won’t survive it. We’ll go our separate ways once you know it. I only wanted to make this last for as long as it could.” 

“What truth?” he asked, worried about what she might reveal. 

“The spell that Eain cast did more than just hide Excalibur. It strengthened the powers that already bound me to the sword. That is the strongest kind of sorcery after all, the kind that incorporates the magic already in place. For a thousand years Excalibur and its powers were mine to grant to whoever I deemed worthy. Eain cursed me to be unable to grant the sword to anyone who did not love me and I did not love in return. And of course anyone who freed me from my imprisonment seeking the sword would not be doing so for altruistic reasons. I would know they were using me and be unable to love them. It was all a great joke on his part.,” she sniffled and wiped away a stray tear. 

“So what have you been doing all this time? Using me as you believed I was using you?” Loki asked, hurt by this for reasons that he could not sort out in his mind just yet. 

“No,” she said, her voice breaking. “I was easing my loneliness. You did rescue me after all and you cared for me while I recovered from being chained for so long. I guess I hoped that there could be something between us.” 

“There is. There is something between us. But I suppose you won’t believe me on that account, especially now that you have told me the truth.” 

She met his eyes. “I want to believe you. I like being with you. I want it to be real.” 

“Then let me prove to you that it is real?” he said. He couldn’t see any reason why earning Niamh’s love and finding Excalibur had to be mutually exclusive. He could love her and need the use of her sword too. 

“How?” 

“I’ll find Eain and make him end the curse and then I’ll kill him. You’ll be free to give the sword to whoever you want or you can destroy it. But the man who imprisoned you for a hundred years will be dead and you will be truly free.” 

“And you expect that I will be so grateful for this deed that I will grant the sword to you?” she asked sadly. 

“Niamh, I can love you, and desire your sword to rule. If you won’t give it to me I’ll find another way but if you will, you will be my queen and you will want for nothing. Not only that, your bed will never be lonely. I will not abandon you no matter what you chose.” 

“I think you have it backwards though. I think you love my sword and you desire me.” 

“You desire me too,” he pointed out. “We could begin with that.” 

She thought about his words a moment and nodded. “I want to see Eain die. Grant me that and if we can get Excalibur back, I will give it to if you do not abandon me. I can not be alone again.” 

“I told you, I will not abandon you, no matter your decision regarding the sword. I won’t leave you unless you tell me to go.” he genuinely meant those words. He wanted to be with her more than any woman he had ever met. 

Niamh let out a sigh. “Eain will be on Avalon. We will have to go there to find him.” 

“Tomorrow,” Loki nodded his agreement. “I don’t want to think about him today. Only you.” 

The following morning Loki woke up to the sound of someone knocking loudly on his door and calling out his name. 

“Loki! Loki I know you’re in there!” Thor’s voice rang out. 

Loki startled awake, “That’s Thor. We have to go!” he told Niamh. 

She reached for her clothes and had no time to throw them on before Thor broke down the front door and marched through it, straight into the bedroom. Thor stopped short on finding his brother in bed with a woman. 

“What is the meaning of this?” Thor asked, confused. 

“The meaning of what?” Loki pulled on a tunic. 

Thor did not explain himself he only stared. 

“Turn around brother so the lady can dress,” Loki said. 

Thor hesitated to move. “If I turn, you will escape.” 

Loki glanced at Niamh who had pulled the sheets up to her shoulders. She had been exposed naked for many years in those chains and had confessed to him days ago how humiliated she had been, never knowing if someone would arrive and find her like that. The last thing she wanted was to be exposed again. It would be another nightmare come true. Loki sighed at knowing what he had to do. He got out of bed, wearing his breeches and a tunic and went to Thor, holding out an arm. 

“You have me now. I won’t escape. Turn around.” Loki told him firmly. 

Thor took hold of Loki’s arm and turned around. He pulled Loki away from the doorway and out into the living room. Niamh quickly threw on her clothes and joined them. She emerged from the bedroom wearing a pale blue dress. Her long blonde hair hung in a single loose braid and her expression was clearly a worried one. 

Thor looked between Niamh and his brother and back again. “I ask again, what is the meaning of this?” 

Loki shook his head, not understanding the question. “The meaning of what?” 

“The last time I saw you, you disappeared and took the tesseract with you. Now here you are, three years later in some obscure British village and in bed with a woman. What happened to the man who meant to rule earth?” 

“He is biding his time,” Loki said, anger in his tone. 

Thor’s eyes fell on Niamh again. “And what part does she play in your great plot?” 

Loki swallowed back the sickness he felt. Thor was going to take him to Asgard for punishment. If he implicated Niamh she would be punished too. “None at all.” 

Thor didn’t look like he believed a word of it. “I think not. You have allowed yourself to be captured just to preserve her dignity. She is important to your schemes somehow. Tell me how and perhaps I can convince father to be merciful with you.” 

“Merciful?” Niamh spoke the word with concern. “What will Odin do to him?” 

“Imprison him most likely,” Thor said. 

She shook her head. “No...Loki...no.”

“My lady, if you had no part in my brother’s plots, Odin will treat you with fairness. You need not worry,” Thor explained. 

“You can not take him,” she said simply. 

“I’m sorry but I must. He must pay for his crimes.” 

“You misunderstand me. I will not allow you to take him,” Niamh spoke firmly. 

Thor grinned. “I really doubt you could stop me.” 

“I am Niamh of the Tuatha de Danaan, the lady of the lake. I have the power to call upon the oceans to swallow you up. I have the power to call upon all the trees and plants of this world to bind you. The seas and the plants will do whatever I ask of them. I will not allow you to take him.” 

Thor looked momentarily concerned at her threats. Then he smiled, letting go of Loki’s arm. “Well played brother. You have done well with biding your time.” Thor looked to Niamh. “What did he do to convince you to join him? You know about his crimes? I hope it wasn’t some magic spell on your mind…” 

“For a hundred years I was chained alone in a cave. Loki freed me from that hell and has been nothing but kind. I have forgiven him his crimes and if Odin can not do the same he risks war with my people, the Tuatha de Danaan. My father is one of the twelve on the council of rulers. He will gladly forgive the man who found and rescued his only daughter. We are not a people you want as foes.” 

“I have heard of you and your people. Will you return with me to Asgard, not as prisoners but to explain this story to Odin?” Thor asked. 

“No,” Niamh shook her head. “I do not trust you.” 

Thor looked thoroughly confused at that and Loki found himself amused. “I guess you’re just not worthy of her trust, brother,” Loki said. 

“If I leave you here Loki, how am I to know that you will not repeat the crimes you committed in New York?” Thor asked. “Because if war is what it takes to stop such atrocities…” 

“There will be no crimes,” Loki said. “I don’t need to rule. Not anymore. I only needed to be worthy of something greater than what you are worthy of. It seems that now I am.” 

“Loki, you never needed to prove yourself to me. I always thought you were worthy,” Thor said. 

“Go home brother and tell father that Niamh of the lake trusts me to keep my word and live peacefully here on Midgard.” 

“I will go Loki,” Thor said after a moment. “But trust my word as well, if I find you are trying to rule here at anytime in the future, I will come for you with all the armies of Asgard to stop you.” 

After Thor was gone Niamh came to Loki’s side and took his hand. “Did you mean what you said? You don’t care about ruling anymore?” 

“At the moment, no. I don’t care about ruling. The look on Thor’s face when you threatened him was quite enough revenge for me for now. Right now, I only want to spend a little more time with the woman I love.” 

She put her arms around him and settled into his hug. “I know where it is, Excalibur. I knew it the moment you gave yourself up to Thor just to protect me. It’s in a lake. I can take you there.” 

“Later… we have more interesting things to do right now,” he said and he bent and kissed her.


End file.
